If the opening kickoff was an indication of what’s to come for the Oliver Ames High football team, the season will be a memorable one.

Senior Cody Scully took the opening kickoff to the house for a 91-yard touchdown that started a 26-8 rout of Hingham on Thursday. After that, the Tigers’ defense took over for an offense that was never truly in sync.

OA forced a three-and-out on the Harbormen’s (1-1) first possession thanks to a third-down sack by senior captain nose tackle Chris Duggan.

On Hingham’s next drive, OA junior linebacker Joey Tepper made a one-on-one tackle after a pass completion and forced a fumble that was recovered by OA senior captain Danny McCarthy on Hingham’s 34-yard line.

Eight plays later, Tepper punched in a touchdown on a fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line to give the Tigers a 12-0 lead with 2:45 left in the first quarter.

“(Tepper is) just a tough, tough kid, an old-school football player who if we need a big tackle he’s going to step up and get it,” said OA coach Jim Artz. “If we need a tough yard he’s 210 pounds, a big kid coming in and lowering his shoulder and he’s tough to tackle.”

Said Hingham coach Paul Killinger: “We put ourselves in a hole. It was 12-0 even before we really got the ball.

“You got to make plays; you can’t hurt yourself.”

Hingham failed to develop anything offensively in the first half (50 total yards). Just before the half, the Harbormen handed OA great field position after a snap sailed over their punter’s head, giving the Tigers the ball 11 yards from the end zone with just over a minute left in the half.

On the next play, Tigers senior quarterback Nick Cidado (8-for-19, 138 yards, two touchdowns) found a diving Joe Walsh in the end zone to give OA a 19-0 lead (junior Nick Sanborn kicked the extra point).

Hingham attempted to drive down the field before halftime, but that idea turned sour when senior Colin Lozzi sacked Hingham senior quarterback Joey Spaziani (7-for-17, 87 yards) and forced a fumble that was recovered by Hingham for the last play of the half.

“We want to be a defense that ballhawks, gets as many turnovers as we can, bends but doesn’t break, all of those things,” said Jim Artz of a defense that forced three first-half fumbles (two recovered by Hingham). “They lived up to that perfectly.”

After a third quarter that saw no scoring, on the first play of the fourth quarter, OA’s offense, which had been slightly off all game, struck gold. Cidado found sophomore Sam Kelly wide open down the sideline for a 63-yard touchdown. Sanborn hit the extra point to extend OA’s lead to 26-0.

Page 2 of 2 - On the next possession, Hingham finally got on the board when Spaziani (nine carries for 33 yards) ran in a 3-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. Senior Sam Benger ran in the two-point conversation to cut the score to 26-8.

After the ensuing onside kick went out of bounds, the Tigers were able to run out the clock.

Benger provided the lone spark for the Harbormen’s offense with 79 yards on 11 carries, 70 of which came in the second half.

“We started blocking for (Benger),” said Killinger. “(We) gave him some room to move and he can play, there’s no question about that. It’s just a matter of he needs help like everybody else. It’s an 11-man team, it’s not a one-guy show.”

The Tigers were a few drops and slight overthrows from putting more points on the board.

“I think our best football is ahead of us,” said Artz. “We looked rusty, we didn’t execute the way we’re capable of executing and any time you can do that and get a very impressive win against a good football team, that’s a great day.”